Getting Out of Saigon

March 28, 2022
In this stirring debut, White recounts his extraordinary mission rescuing civilians during the fall of South Vietnam. An American, 27-year-old White was assigned in February 1975 as an entry-level corporate banking officer at Chase Manhattan’s Bangkok branch. But, as he reveals, his career took a significant turn when, two months later, he was assigned to work in Saigon. As the North Vietnamese army began to close in on the city, White was charged with the increasingly fraught task of ensuring the safety of the bank’s employees. In a propulsive and suspenseful narrative, he recalls the lengths that he went to do so, battling American bureaucracy to get the branch’s Vietnamese workers out of the city and past allies who were “shooting suspected deserters.” With the help of diplomats running a clandestine rescue operation “behind the ambassador’s back,” White was able to commandeer an abandoned cargo plane and save over 100 Vietnamese lives. What he modestly refers to as his 15 minutes of fame is made more resonant by his deep humanity, as when he writes that “more than refugees, employees, staff,” the people he rescued “were my families.” Admirers of Antonio Mendez’s Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History will be hooked.

June 10, 2024

Mark Bramhall narrates White's debut memoir, describing his harrowing experience as a 27-year-old bank executive ordered to close the Chase Manhattan Branch in Vietnam just before the fall of Saigon. White is shocked and overwhelmed when he realizes the enormity of his assignment, which requires him to evacuate the bank employees and get their families to safety. Once he decides to make things happen, he taps into his personal resources and creativity to get the job done. Bramhall's performance starts in a stilted manner as the emotionally uninvested White assesses the dire situation at hand, then becomes smoother and more dynamic as White gets to know the people he is rescuing. Bramhall shows White's savviness as he deals with local politicians and makes the right second-level contacts so that all the puzzle pieces fall into place. Bramhall gives slight regional accents or vocal nuances to many of the people quoted in the book, making them distinctive from the author's narrative voice. White's affection and sense of responsibility for the people he rescues grow immeasurably as he meets more Chase employees during this two-week ordeal. VERDICT An astonishing, little-known story of humanitarianism in the twilight of the Vietnam War.--Stephanie Bange

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